Last blog of 2016

So finally, we are writing our last blog of the year.

It has been a fraught few months since we last published a blog, hence the rather long delay in writing this one!

We ended our last blog at a nice Marrekrite mooring close to a town called Joure.

Rubbish collection at a FREE mooring place

From there we spent a few days in the commercial harbour in Drachten – empty and free including electricity - while we waited for a day fine enough to take the wheelhouse roof off to pass under 3 low bridges on the next leg of our journey.

Drachten - another free, and empty mooring

Eventually the day dawned bright and dry and we cruised up to the first bridge, tied up to a rather rickety private mooring and lowered the roof. The people in the house opposite were fascinated and amazed and gave us the universal thumbs-up gesture.

We spent a couple of nights in Groningen on a good free mooring on the canal to the south east approach.

Groningen railway station - magnificent

We had fun going through the town with all the lift bridges and had to wait ages at one of them, while a long museumbrug ‘raft’ powered by an outboard at each end came through: the front outboard acting as their ‘bow thruster’!

Strange craft

We headed north through the Hoge Zuidval up as far as the Lauwwersoog inland lake, which is about as far north you can get in Holland and had a windy lunch stop on the edge of a jachthaven there. We decided, though, not to spend the night in this extremely uncomfortable spot, cost notwithstanding, and found a good sheltered mooring on an island further south.

Lauwwersoog - windy lunch spot

Lovely Zoutcamp

When we got to Dokkum we decided to stay on the chargeable town quay and pay. Unfortunately, we said our boat was 18m and were charged for ‘18m and more’, rather than ‘17.99m and less’ – a stiff €24, rather than €11.70. We thought that was a bit mean, so we only stayed the one night, but Dokkum was a nice place and well worth the lengthy diversion north - 3 pictures follow.

At Leeuwarden we had been told by our friends George and Suzanna Snijder that we would be able to use the historic harbour and to contact Robert the harbourmaster for permission. A great mooring for €5 a night and the young lady in the barge behind us let us plug into her electricity supply after some sweet talk by Alex.

Leeuwarden bridge and leaning tower

We stayed for 4 nights! We took the train back to Vreeswijk to pick up the car which we dropped off at SRF in Harlingen. Leeuwarden is a nice town with interesting things to do and see. On one of our days there the town was holding a festival all along the side of the canal with shows and live performances everywhere. And great fun!

Outdoor performance artistes at the Festival - brilliant!

At last the weather had cheered up and we found an idyllic mooring in the country for our last night before heading to SRF for the lift out.

Harlingen tall ships

The lift went without a hitch and after jet washing her hull RICCALL was lowered gently onto her supports for the rest of the work to begin.

Gentle manoeuvring

We had decided, among other things, that we ought to get the TRIVW certification for RICCALL because although this is generally only required for boats over 20m, there is a caveat that shorter boats whose overall dimensions (in metres) when multiplied together come to over 100, would also need the TRIVW. Ours comes to 126 so even though it’s probably unlikely that we would ever be questioned about it, we decided to get the certificate, because at this stage older ships have less onerous demands on them provided the certificate is gained before the end of 2018. Thereafter, all ships requiring certification will have to comply fully, so if RICCALL was found to need the TRIVW after 2019 she wouldn’t be able to comply and would probably have to be scrapped.

We contacted Peter Voerman who can carry out the necessary surveys and issue a TRIVW certificate.

We also asked SRF for a quote for modifying the stern to reduce our severe prop walk and also to make the rudder a bit more efficient.

The quote for this work seemed acceptable, and involved cutting out the vertical support for the skeg, reinforcing said skeg with horizontal bars on either side, creating a quarter tunnel over the propeller and adding a bit to the front edge of the rudder.

While all that was going on, Peter Voerman turned up to do the hull survey and certification.

He found a couple of rivets that needed welding and said that the turn of the bilge on the port side would need to be overplated at some point in the next 3 to 4 years. We decided to have it done there and then as we had confidence in SRF and then wouldn’t have to worry about it for the rest of our lives!

Peter mentioned a couple of other minor things to do on the hull and a few acquisitions to allow him to give us the TRIVW (reflective life-ring, 150mm high ENI number installed on the rear of the wheelhouse, 3 x 6kg fire extinguishers, ‘no flame’ signs near fuel fillers, ‘wear ear protectors’ in engine room etc etc – so nothing too onerous. Hopefully then, when we have sent him the photographic evidence of all those things, we will have our TRIVW certification. Whoopee!

Over the next couple for weeks SRF carried out all the work over the prop and on the rudder while Alex and Louise stripped off the paint on the saloon roof and repainted it all with two pack epoxy. Alex also replaced the water pump on the engine and repacked the stern gland packing (SRF refurbished the prop shaft bearings as well.)

What SRF did

We joined our chums, Paul and Diane, for 3 nights in an Airbnb flat in Harlingen, to give us some respite from boat-yard living (good suggestion P and D) and entertained Mary and Martin and George and Suzannah for supper on board one evening.

SRF painted the underside and we did from the waterline up to deck level. One of the other joys of the strap lift-out came when RICCALL was put back in the straps, lifted and the places that had been on the supports could be painted as well before she went back in the water.

Now we had the return trip to our mooring in Bruges to tackle and complete, within a couple of weeks or so.

This is so unlike our usual style, as it meant long days and very brief stops for lunch, if any.

As we reversed out of the straps at SRF Alex immediately noticed that the prop walk had all but disappeared but in due course when we got into the shallower canals we discovered the downsides of the prop tunnel. Basically, in shallow water, the prop was being starved of water creating cavitation and the need for many more revs from the engine to create the same stopping, starting and turning effects compared to before the tunnel was fitted.

At one particularly sharp bend we ended up on the ‘wrong’ side of the canal at the bottom of somebody’s garden because we just couldn’t make the turn. The houseowner who was in the garden doing a bit of weeding, was somewhat surprised but we explained that we had just had work done and it was taking some getting used to the change!

At another point we accidentally missed a sign marking a village canal bypass which had been made, and found ourselves going right through the middle of the village. A sign indicated we were too big to pass and we were given conflicting advice as to whether we could get through or not. Finally a woman barge owner came out to us and said yes we definitely could, but the bridge keeper would accompany us. So, very, very slowly with about a foot clearance on either side, we made our way along the sinuous canal through the village with the bridge keeper giving us encouragement and advice. We ended up with a bit of vegetation on the decks but avoided contact all the way through. A bit tense, with the mods to the steering to cope with.

A bit tight through Warga!

Then we were back on familiar territory, travelling back through Ozzenzijl and Blokzijl and then another night on Eekt Island and on round the back of Flevoland Island, eventually through the southern end of the Markemeer and into Muiden. After another long day we moored at the lock in Vreeswijk.

Sailing tjalks

We decided to give the Biesbosch another chance on our route south and, armed with a chart the rescue police had given us 8 years ago, an up to date chart of the area AND our PC Navigo we set off on the prescribed route, checking charts and depth readings as we went. All went well for the first hour then Woomph! we went aground. Fortunately we were going very slowly so were able to reverse off and try a different course further towards where we hoped the deeper channel was, but no, aground again. So Alex said ‘Right, that’s it: we go right back to where we started and take the longer route which we know is OK because we did it 8 years ago’. One of the beauties of PC Navigo is that it shows you where you have been as well as where to go, so we were able to retrace our route along exactly the same track as we had used coming in. Even so, we touched bottom a couple of times on the way back (maybe the very small tide was on the way out!) but got over no trouble.

A peaceful mooring - the night before we went aground!!

So then we were into the Volkerak and moored for the night at Steenbergsche Vliet, on a ‘no mooring’ sign, but who cares? Just Antwerp and the Scheldt River to contend with now before an easy trip along the Ghent bypass canal and on into Flandriahaven in Bruges.

Antwerp docks are amazing but we had the usual tense wait with another 9 ships at the Royersluis before getting out onto a choppy Sea Scheldt.

We overnighted at Dendermonde where the lock keeper again gave us the incorrect time to leave the following day! but we sussed it out ourslves with the help of Dick and Lynne on SUZANNA who were moored behind us and were going to be travelling with us the next day.

However, we were informed by the lockkeeper when we got to the lock that the river upstream had been ‘closed’ for dredging and we would have to wait for another hour or so. This meant that when it finally reopened there were about 12 barges queued up also trying to go upriver, so one by one we had to let them pass us as we all headed for Ghent.

The que;u;e behind us up the Scheldt!

Once arrived at Bruges, harbourmaster Patrick tried to moor us at the very end of the moorings close to where we had been last winter but this time alonside the quay. Not enough depth! So we ended up swapping places with Laura Marie - a much shallower-draughted boat - and mooring outside Anthonia. A nice spot and Jeremy and Carol are lovely neighbours.

So what did we do in 2016? 1691 Kilometres 101 locks 199 bridges

Namur to Holland Meres

Blog 123 Namur to Holland Meres

Sorry folks! It’s been a long time since we wrote our last blog and we have met so many people and discussed so often what we’ve all been doing during that time that we actually thought we had posted another blog!!!!

So here goes, to make amends. We left Namur with a kind donation of a map of our next section from Sean and Lynne on ELLE but we failed to get their contact details. Do get in touch S and L so we can return it!

We made good progress down the fast flowing Meuse but after a couple of locks we came up against a long queue of commercials waiting at the next lock. Suddenly a voice came over the radio on Channel 10 saying “RICCALL come forward to the front of the queue; you can go in with the next commercial in front of me”. This came from the captain of a commercial who had assessed the situation. So up we went and just as we were about to enter the lock we got the red light. Wot! Again? The lockkeeper didn’t think we could fit in with the other boats. Actually, there was plenty of room but we waited and went with SINBAD and Captain Hank (who had called us forward) on the next lockage.

We arrived at Lanaye lock a few kilometres before Maastricht and turned into the Meer just downstream (Waterrecreatiecentrummere!!!!) We had been told of a little mooring behind the island and with some trepidation nosed our way round, keeping a watchful eye on the depth meter. All was well and it was so nice and peaceful we spent 2 nights there – unable to get off to go anywhere, but so quiet and delightful with just the occasional passing rowing boat.

We had contacted our friends Jeroen and Anja of DA CAPO II

who we had moored with 8 years before and who had been so kind to us. They said there were just upstream of the John F Kennedybrug in Maastricht, but we missed their turning and had to turn upstream to get back to them. It took ages against the strong current going nearly flat out, but we made it into their quiet and calm mooring and moored on their 39m barge.

A lovely couple of days’ catch-up with them and one of their delightful now-grown-up daughters Marijn (unfortunately Janne was away) then a late start for Maasbracht.

(More borrowed maps for our travels – thanks J and A.) 

The view from our mooring on Da Capo II - the Mastricht Treaty building

Another lakeside mooring that night but the level dropped overnight so a bit aground in the morning - but no problem pulling away and off.

Toasting our success at getting this mooring on meres right!!

A few days later we arrived at the Niewesluis Shijndal. An 80m commercial was moored up on the ‘sport wachtplatts’ (mooring for pleasure craft) and a 110m waiting for the 135m lock on the commercial side opposite. We moored behind him as we couldn’t see any mooring bollards for sport boats. We were gearing up to ask the lockkeeper if we could use the lock with the 110m when a 125m container carrier MISIKO arrived behind us followed by another 85m barge. MISIKO just kept coming on and on, and the two boatmen on the front told us to move (never mind that we could have gone in with the 110m barge in front) “Go to the other side, there ARE bollards” they said. We still couldn’t see any, but we just had to move as this behemoth kept coming closer and closer. So we started our move across the canal, but at that moment the lock gates opened and THREE barges started to emerge. Alex made a quick decision and in the face of the emerging barges swung RICCALL in a circle under full power to the opposite side facing back the way we had come, then we both frantically tried to secure our 80 tonne barge to tiny pins 20mm in diameter and 100mm high with a minimal taper towards the bottom, most of which had been broken off!

MISIKO - our bete noir!!

So we just stayed there until everything had calmed down and all the barges had gone, then asked the lockkeeper if we could just moor for the night at the very front end of the commercial mooring. “No problem” he said, so we did. (He had clearly seen the mayhem of our dismissal from the left bank to the right and took pity on us!)

We got to ‘S Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) where we were due to meet up with Alice and Bea coming for a long weekend, and finally met Michael and Susan of NAUTILUS who had been there for a few days (vet visits for their lurcher Elvis).

It was a great mooring but a shame about the weather which has been pretty variable ever since we started out this season and that weekend was no different.





However we managed to catch an hour or so of sunshine on Sunday morning for a trip through the canal tunnels UNDER the city of Den Bosch with A and B, a visit to the cathedral statues and then into a café just as the heavens opened.

Bea enjoys the experience

Lock 0 in Den Bosch only opens 3 times a week at 3 o’clock in the afternoons, and of the 4 lift bridges on the section only the first, into the lock, is raised. The one out of the lock is only 3.4m clearance when down and the other ones are a bit higher. So it was going to be roof off for us to go through and that would depend on the weather.

And then at 2.30pm the sky cleared, the sun came out and we said right, we’ll go for it. Our new friends on NAUTILUS have a fixed height of 3.4m so they were going to ‘test the water’ as it were and come into the lock too, the low bridge being on exit.

NAUTILUS in Lock 0

Well it was no problem for us and as we went under the bridge Alex used his measure and thought it was more than 3.4m so radio’ed that info to Michael. They decided to give it a go and got through with 20mm to spare – pretty close.

Underneath Den Bosch's amazing railway and road bridges

From the lock it’s about 2kms to the next mooring and we could see a black cloud coming towards us. Could we make it before the heavens opened again? Alex gave it full speed ahead quickly onto the mooring, full reverse to stop, the front rope missed the bollard but Alice jumped off and popped it on, then the back rope, then we managed to get the roof back on. It settled into position just as the first drops of rain began to fall and before another absolute deluge!

Alice and Bea left on the Tuesday and we set off again the next day. The first hurdle would be the Egelen Sluis just before entering the fearsome Maas (Dutch for Meuse). In we went with no problem alongside an 85m barge on our right and a cruiser in front of us. Then as the gates started to open to let us all out the 85m engaged his propeller and just sat pushing against his front rope while the gates opened fully. We are not sure why he did this but it set up quite a circulation of water in the lock. Then he left and the cruiser left and we started to leave – ropes off, kick the back end off, bit of reverse to pull the front end off, then a VERY loud bang from the back of the boat. Alex dashed out to see what had happened. The steering ram and the rudder had become disconnected. Blimy!! Back to the radio, warn the lockkeeper, try and rope a bollard. No chance. Riccall was being spun round in the lock by the whirlpool set up by the commercial. Well, that was lucky really because we ended up on the opposite wall facing the other way and Louise just managed to get a rope on at the front and with a touch of reverse the prop walk brought the back end in and Alex could rope a bollard at the rear!! Phew!!

So now it was all out to fit the emergency steering. It’s so long since we did this that everything that had to be moved was jammed, and in the meantime a HUGE pusher and dumb barge had gingerly entered the lock (having been advised of our problem by the lockkeeper) and the lock was filling back up.

Finally, just as the gates opened again, we had the emergency tiller set up and with Louise on the throttle and Alex on the tiller we set off back out of the lock behind the pusher and his cargo.

“Just give it a quick burst of power”, said Alex, with the tiller set at about 45^o to get us pointing the right way – whooommf, Alex was catapulted across the deck by the force of the tiller. We had no idea what the back forces were like as we had only ever used the emergency tiller once before when being towed with no engine. So it was, “Easy on the power Louise” and hang onto the tiller for dear life Alex!

It turned out that the clamp bolts had come loose and the end bolt had sheared so Alex fixed it during the afternoon and we returned to Den Bosch for another night and a short ‘road or river test’ of the steering before going out onto the raging torrent of the Maas (only about 3kph actually as it turned out).

Whilst at Woudrichem Historic Harbour on the Maas

Snuggling up against some REALLY old ships
in the historic harbour at Woudrichem

we had heard from Nicci and Peter that there was the possibility of a good mooring in the historic barge port of Vreeswijk, a couple of days’ cruise away.

Vreeswijk historic harbour

And sure enough, we were welcomed by Dick the Havenmeester and slipped into the mooring space vacated by Jeremy and Carol on ANTHONIA.

We decided that perhaps a trip back to the UK would be useful to tick a few more boxes vis a vis our move south. As it happened Nicci and Peter were also returning to the UK and could give us a lift as far as Bruges where our car was parked. So that was excellent and thanks very much to them for that.

About 10 days back in the UK, a trip north to check on the Newton Aycliffe house and to bring another load of stuff down to Hawkinge, the usual appointments with doctor, dentist and hairdressers, then back to France on the 14^th. We were hoping to do a quick shop in a French Lidl for the stuff they don’t stock in Holland – but we hadn’t clocked that it was JULY 14^th - Bastille Day in France - and everything, but everything was tight shut.

Back at Vreeswijk we stayed another few days (aware that we needed to leave before the Historic Boat Event coming up) for some socialising (including a lovely surprise visit from our Dutch friends George and Suzannah in their campervan – who we’d met in Dordrecht 8 years before on their tjalk AEOLUS: they had just got married after more than 15 years together) and a couple of evenings with John and Hilary of ISKRA who had moored in the adjacent port while we were away, then headed north again and onto the lovely, winding Vecht.

Lovely weather for our Vecht trip too

There we came across NAUTILUS again and had yet another boozy time catching up! It’s no fun this boating, but someone has to do it!

A couple of days later, we were out onto the southern end of the Markermeer which feels like being at sea without the swell, which it is, I suppose, but it’s quite hard at first to spot the buoyed channel. PC Navigo helps of course, but quite often seems to guide us to the wrong side of some of the buoys!

We risked going into Almere Haven for lunch and managed to moor up on a super quay next to a huge party boat called SUCCES.

It was so nice there that we asked to stay the night hoping against hope that the party boat wasn’t operating that night!! It wasn’t, and our mooring was fine with the Havenmeester.

Since then we have used an excellent ex-industrial quay and two or three island moorings on our way to our present position which is a canal-side ‘ligplatts’ – a boat mooring place provided and often free – just south of a lovely town called Blokzijl.

From here it’s onwards into Friesland proper and then to our lift-out in Harlingen for our hull check and repaint. More of that later.

Bruges to Namur (via Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide!)

We left Bruges and spent a few days cruising close to Calais via Nieuwpoort and Oudenburg to Veurne, 

Nieuwpoort Sluizencomplex Ganzefoot

Waiting in the 'Goose's Foot' basin 

Dick Whittington?

and then on to the French border on the Dunkirk Canal where there was just enough width to turn round. 

At the French border - 2 metres of Riccall is in France!

We spent the night there under the watchful eyes of the adjacent road police who were protecting the border from the hordes of ISIS terrorists flowing in from France! Back to Veurne for a night, then up to Fintele on the Ijzer river where we spent a couple of nights on what must be a 9¾/10 mooring (electricity only €3 a night, no mooring costs) quiet, peaceful, middle of beautiful country. 

Leaving Fintele mooring

 After that we went to Diksmuid on the Ijzer River which was also a very good town mooring and which gave us the chance to spend a week in a pleasant town at a very reasonable rate and have Paul and Diane to stay.  We climbed the AVV-VVK memorial tower museum (All for Flanders, Flanders for Christ) which was a very interesting morning's work.

What is this seal doing here?

Eventually, we got back to Flandria to leave the boat for a week while we sorted out the final stages of purchase of the new house in Hawkinge.

This turned into a month as there was so much to sort out (as there always is).so we didn't get away for this year's cruising until the 3^rd of June – a very late start for us.

We are heading for Friesland this year and amazingly that is still the plan! Louise hates tidal rivers so 'we' decided to go the long way round via Tournai, Mons, Charleroi, Namur, Maastricht etc rather than down the Scheldte to Antwerp then via Kreekrak Sluizen and the Volkerak.

The advantage of this current route however, is that as far as Namur we know the rivers, canals and moorings well, and also it gives us a chance possibly to catch up with old friends in Maastricht when we pass through.

However, we seem to have been beset by misunderstandings on this route. We spent a noisy night upstream of Kain Lock in Tournai and in the morning asked the lockkeeper if we could follow a commercial through the one-way system when the lights turned green. Our impression was that he said Yes! And as we followed CENTURIAN, albeit a little further behind than we would have liked, the lights turned red on us. Had they just turned them red too soon or what? We decided to keep going, but half way through the system we saw a woman gesticulating wildly from the bankside and waving a piece of paper at us, so we pulled up as she indicated: she said we should NOT have followed the first boat.

Now, there is NOWHERE in Tournai where it gives any indication as to how one should contact anyone to ask for permission to travel through the one-way system. We had assumed the lockkeeper was the guy in charge. We were wrong. The piece of paper showed us the correct VHF number and telephone number to use for said permission! But there is nowhere on the canal side that gives the correct channel number to use. Our computer program PC Navigo makes no mention of the one-way system at all so how is anyone supposed to know? The lockkeeper made no mention of the correct procedure either. Well, we stopped, the female bridge keeper gave us the paper with the instructions for future reference, and we carried on, expecting a fine to be extracted at some stage, but at the time of writing, not yet. This delay just meant the boats waiting at the other end of the one-way system had to wait a further 10 minutes while Mrs Bridge Keeper said her piece!!

Later that same day, after getting fuel at Antoing, we were negotiating the two Peronnes locks. The first one was no problem, but for the second we had a long wait while a commercial descended. As we waited, another professional came up behind both us and the other pleasure boat waiting with us.

We heard the lockkeeper telling the commercial that there were two plaisances in front of him, then a short time later a long and unintelligible instruction. So when the lights turned green, we set off and at the very last minute were red-lighted. Emergency Stop! Back off, get in the way of the commercial, get out of the way, let the commercial in first then follow in behind, and slip our way alongside him to the front of the lock to moor up: exactly where we would have been if we had gone in first! We know that it is generally the rule to defer to commercials of course, but in this case it would have been so much easier , quicker and safer to have done the opposite. Anyway, the other plaisance followed us, moored up and up we all went. The lady capitaine of the commercial was obviously still furious when the gates opened as she took off like a rocket under full power. Hubby gave Alex an apologetic wave and a raised eyebrow!

Finally we got to our very favourite mooring – the Pommeroeul Canal Basin and moored up easily. RIVAL and JOHANNA were already there and Brett and John gave us a hand and a chat as we moored up, but at that very moment the heavens opened and we all retreated to our respective shelters.

The next day the crews of both boats were nowhere to be seen when we popped round to say hello, so after lunch we decided to cast off and get ahead of a very slow-moving commercial and at that very moment everybody returned! Oh well, so be it, we'll catch up in Bruges this winter if not before.

Weird No 1

A couple of nights later we were in our old haunt Seneffe for a peaceful night and a catch up with Arthur and Patrick.

At Marchienne Lock, just before the outskirts of Charleroi we moored up at the end of the lock moorings for a fairly quiet night with not too many commercials/trains/aeroplanes/cars! And in the morning it happened again! We asked if we could follow a commercial into the lock and got no reply – as usual. So we watched the lights and when the big boy was in they stayed on green, so we started to follow: then at the last minute the éclusier came out of his office and waved his hands at us in an indeterminate manner which we couldn't interpret. And then the lights went red! Not enough room for us apparently, so we had to back off and moor up again. Actually we had forgotten that this lock and subsequent ones are shorter than most of the others around this area – only 86m long instead of 120m as we should have known by this time. But why not contact us on the radio?  We checked it was working and that's what it's there for!

Charleroi - don't you just LOVE it?!

Shitty Charleroi lived up to its nickname in no uncertain terms with clouds of rusty dust emanating from all the scrap loading at the start, and again as we waited for the Marcinelle Lock, where suddenly our first ever Havenmeesters Martine and Pierre turned up on their boat NANCY, who we hadn't seen for eight years!!! Much kissing and catch-up ensued. They have finally retired and were setting off on their cruiser for the South of France and the Midi.

Once released from this dreadful lock, as we travelled through the centre of Charleroi, we went under a bridge and heard a sharp bang on the wheelhouse roof. Alex immediately thought someone had taken a pot-shot at us but when we looked back we saw that under a tarpaulin cover they were sandblasting the bridge above. Obviously a large chunk had fallen on the roof and in addition the whole of the rest of the boat was covered in a layer of sand and grit.

We finally moored at Auvelais Lock where there is often an exchange of a few commercials, that night being no exception. Usually though once the commercials have come and gone, it is pretty quiet, but this time the commercial behind us had been abandoned and had left his genny running! - a continuous gentle drone in the background and a plume of blue smoke from the tired old engine all night and into the following day. Was this going to go on ALL weekend? We think it probably did.

We spent an hour or so brushing the whole boat down to get rid of the gritty sandblasting stuff, then the heavens opened again so the rest of the job was done by the rain.

So we have made it down to Namur, a city we have visited before by boat and car. But this time we made a special point of investigating the Citadel, high on its promontory above the confluence of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse. What a place and what views! 

View from the Citadel - spot the Riccall

'Ludus Pro Patria'

'Victorian' hotel at the very top

It's the most amazingly interesting complex – chateau, forge, barracks, with fortified walls on all sides. And all of it soaring above the town. Some of it is well-preserved but some of it is quite definitely NOT. There is a dilapidated outdoor auditorium at the top of the hill, just below a beautiful and well-preserved hotel. The auditorium had obviously just played host to an outdoor concert of some kind and the clean-up operation was in full swing while there were various makeshift sets being built for the next outdoor play, with actors rehearsing for 'Les Namur Medievals' in July. The whole thing made for a couple of hours of great interest.

When we got back to RICCALL we were sitting in the wheelhouse when suddenly a couple tapped on the window and said, “What luck! We have been reading your Riccallrambling blog for 3 years or more, but never expected to actually meet up. Do come for a coffee in the morning if you have time”.

So we went along for a coffee and a good chat with Sean and Lynn on their cruiser ELLE. They are from South Africa and spend about 3 months at a time cruising in Europe. They are heading up the Meuse, which will be hard going as it's flowing so strongly at the moment (easy for us going downstream though) so thank you both very much for coffee, chat and following our blog! (And a last-minute dash along the quay by Sean to give us a chart of the Maas – so kind.)

But hey! Two more readers!

Weird No 2.  It's just amazing what you see on these rivers.

So what do we make of our first 2 weeks or so cruising? Well, we've certainly entertained, if that's the word, several lockkeepers and one or two fellow boaters with our difficulty interpreting SILENCE!!!! We have discovered that interpreting French is one thing, Belgian quite another, but SILENCE???!!! Impossible!

Setting off for 2016

Well, we’re off again!  The new season has started, but look at our brilliant mooring in Bruges for the winter:

and our preparations for warmth for the coming months!

One whole load to be divided between AURIGNY and RICCALL

 our share now neatly stacked on the rear deck

but time must sometimes be put aside for reflection - Remembrance Day in Bruges

Between the end of the last cruising season and the beginning of this, we were absolutely determined to find a house somewhere nearer to Dover to help with our regular trips back and forth.  Our current house in Co Durham is a 5¹/₂-6 hour journey from Dover and in any case, we know no-one there or indeed in the north any more.

So at first we set a distance limit of 3 hours from Dover and decided it had to be south of the Dartford Crossing (a real-time thirsty bottleneck even with the new auto charge system). We realised that it was easier and cheaper to look from Bruges rather than from our northern outpost and narrowed our search area to Kent which we visited on several day trips from Calais.

Towards the end of February we at last found not one, but two houses that fitted the bill.  We made offers on both and the one we ‘sort of’ preferred was rejected but the other was accepted.  Each had various items on our wish list, but neither had them all!

We needed a quick exchange before the end of March, as were considering summer letting and would therefore be landlords and have to pay a whopping extra £10k stamp duty.

So we decided to carry out our own searches to save time and got into a wobble about planning permission for a wooden structure which had been built in the back garden of the house. We discussed it and decided we just couldn’t take the risk that the ‘lodge’ might be discovered by the authorities and have to be demolished.   This would mean that the whole raison d’etre for buying that house would be lost.

2 hours later, out of the blue, the estate agent rang about the earlier house and asked if we were still interested as the other offer had fallen through.  So we sort of changed horses (or houses) in mid-race.  But as the first house was a lot cheaper we don’t think we will bother to summer let and the stamp duty is thus a lot less.

So instead, when we have made a few changes to the house layout, we will offer it at a peppercorn rate to any of our friends as a stop-off before or after a channel crossing: this partly as an act of helpfulness to friends and partly so that it doesn’t stand empty for months on end.

So house searching is finally (we hope) at an end.

                                   

                                 The ferry having help from a tug in gale force conditions - Dover

We spent Christmas and New Year in Bruges with cousins Mary and Martin joining us for Christmas, and we joined friends Chris and Diana on ESME for New Year’s Eve – lovely meal followed by watching the town’s firework display, and of course spent time looking at Bruges in its winter finery:

We didn't only LOOK at Bruges' ice rink - we spent time on it too!

The following day was the ‘7^th International Paper Boat Race’ open to all boaters from the Bruges ports, Coupure and Flandria. 

The rules were simple; construction only from A4 sheets of paper (as many as you liked) and as much Sellotape as you needed (other brands of sticky tape are available!).

Alex decided on a raft-like structure and produced the ‘KONSTIKI’; Peter and Nicci of AURIGNY (our neighbouring boat in Flandria) made a beautiful looking Viking ship called FILANDRIA(!).  Chris on ESME had constructed a phenomenal ship with watertight box-section compartments and a huge yellow sail, and others had constructed everything in between (one boat just produced a big multi-coloured paper ball with dozens of hexagonal segments.)

Alex's brave little effort!

Most of the competitors lined up

 At 12pm the boats were launched into the Coupure and the first to get the 50m or so to the floating Xmas tree would be the winner.

ESME shot off into the lead but half way along slid between two barges and got into the doldrums.  Meanwhile KONSITKI, after a poor start, was making her way steadily along the centre of the waterway.

It is allowed in the rules to assist a boat back into the channel but the gentleman who ‘helped’ ESME’s boat back to the centre line also gave it a huge push towards the finishing post, which meant that it overtook KONSITKI, which had taken the lead by this time.  ESME’s boat won the race by about 2ft! 

KONSTIKI about to perform her rear-guard action as ESME heads into the doldrums!

Alex was gutted, but Lo!  The scrutineer had seen the push and ESME was disqualified, so KONSTIKI became the winner and the holder of the ‘silver’ cup for 2016.  What a hoot!  And next winter we can see it’s going to be paper darts at dawn if we are not all very careful.

All in all, we have had an enjoyable and sociable winter in Bruges as several of our old friends were also moored with us and we have made several more new friends.  The Flandria Yachthaven has a good clubhouse which is also open to the public, and does a range of very tasty meals.  The beer and wine are very reasonably priced, the staff friendly and the food and company good.  What more could you ask?

Apart from Mary and Martin. pictured above with us on Blakenberg beach on Christmas Day, we have also had Rob and Amy and Alice and Bea to stay with us, hopefully to enjoy the delights of Bruges – though the weather could have been better for both visits.  Others threatened to visit but for one reason or another cried off.

Throughout the winter Alex has been constructing things for RICCALL; blue board, water filtration system, AIS B radio receiver and upgrading the navigation system and at the same time doing much the same for several other boats moored with us at Flandria.  So no rest for the wicked there then!  In fact, some of the work for Riccall never did get finished, damn it!

So our plan now is to drift gently around the northern Belgium canals for a few weeks until we get the new house bought and sorted out, then we’ll be able to carry on with our earlier plan, which is to cruise up to Friesland in north eastern Holland before going into dry dock in mid September for the usual bottom scrubbing and painting! And other minor modifications, not to mention looking for any damage that might have been caused, by last year’s shenanigans, to the bottom